


Breakfast of Champions

by chancellor_valdez



Category: Queen of the South (TV)
Genre: 3x05 AU, Domestic Fluff, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 12:37:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15663375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellor_valdez/pseuds/chancellor_valdez
Summary: Basically just much needed fluff about if Teresa hadn't gotten grabbed and made it back to James with that steak.





	Breakfast of Champions

She closed the door softly, trying not to rustle the bags or make too much noise. She hadn’t been gone too long and it was still early, but she wanted him to stay asleep just a little while longer. She wanted it to be a surprise.

She almost shook her head at herself. Driving to get a rib eye steak at 8:30 in the morning like some kind of grand romantic gesture. It was almost ridiculous. 

But the newfound bounce in her step as she moved around the kitchen, that wasn’t ridiculous. Neither was the lightness inside she felt spreading through her, or the the small smile that had hadn’t left her face since she woke up. For the first time since Sinaloa - since Guero - life held out a softness for her. She had almost forgotten what that felt like. What it felt like to breathe, and laugh, and live. What it felt like to wake up to another warm body wrapped around her. It felt nice.

When she’d first cracked her eyes open that morning it was to confusion before anything else. Then she registered the arm slung over her hip, and felt the solid chest beneath her head rising in a slight breath. And she remembered with a fondness the night before. Memories and feelings that made her want to press in closer and enjoy the brief moment of warmth while it was available. Everything felt like it had fallen right into place, it all felt right. She realized then, that she hadn’t felt this…. Safe in such a long time. That’s how he made her feel, safe. Not just in the physical sense that he would protect her from danger, she’d known that since day she met him, but also in the emotional sense. He made her heart feel safe, like she could open up her chest and leave all her trauma and fears on display and he still wouldn’t care. He would still take her softly in his hands the way he always had because he had his own carnage stored beneath his ribs.

She had pulled back only slightly to glance at his face, smoothed by sleep. He looked younger, no crease in his brow or worry in his eyes. No shadow hanging over him and pressing down on his shoulders to remind him of the blood on his hands. It was nice, to see him so at peace for once. It made her want to run her fingers along every soft ridge of his face.

Laying there, she found herself wondering what he was dreaming about, if he was dreaming at all. Or what his face would look like when he woke up and found her there against him. If he’d smile at her, and she wanted to see him smile. She wanted him to feel as happy and content as she did before life found a way to sneak back up on them and they once again had to fight for their lives. They deserved that much. They deserved it all.

That’s when the thought had occurred to her. She remembered their conversation about futures and how he had mentioned the rib eye and an attempt at a joke. 

So she’d slipped out of the bed, into some clothes, and out the door in search of a steak, which not many restaurants had available for purchase at such an early hour, but she managed. And now she was tiptoeing around his kitchen trying to find a clean plate before it got cold, and, maybe, humming to herself like some kind of teenage girl over the moon. 

She was going to prepare the best “morning after breakfast in bed steak” he’d ever had. She wanted him to share the in the warmth filling her chest and she wanted him to know how much she cared, really cared. A night that memorable deserved a morning just as special. And there was always the possibility of round-

“Teresa?” Shit. She’d gotten so close. 

She turned to see James shuffling into the kitchen entrance stifling a yawn and scratching at the back of his neck. She tried not to let her gaze travel to his bare arms, but remained unsuccessful.

“Morning.” 

“You weren’t there. I was worried you’d gotten yourself kidnapped again.” He smiled. Her heart leapt just a little. 

“Not this time.” She couldn’t help but soak up how nice this felt. How normal it was to pass jokes back and forth across a kitchen in the early morning with someone close to you. If she just ignored the fact that the jokes revolved around her previous kidnappings. 

“What are you doing in here?” he asked, seemingly confused by her presence in the kitchen and not the bed, wearing actual clothes. 

“Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but you ruined it.” 

He raised an amused eyebrow and moved to her side to investigate the alleged surprise for himself. When he saw the open takeout box he stopped and blinked.

“Is that steak?” When she just smiled in response he shook his head. “Teresa, you didn’t- “

“Have to? No. But want to? Yes.” He looked at her for a long breath, something almost guarded in his eyes. Disbelief maybe? Like he was having that internal struggle with himself about whether or not he even deserved this. “It’s just breakfast.”

“Just breakfast,” he repeated, dissolving his worry with a smile and a chuckle. She reached for his hand anyway.

“I thought you deserved something nice, James. It’s not a big deal.” 

He sighed and moved closer, reaching his free hand out to cup her face so gently. “It is to me.” He kissed her then. It was soft and brief, but she still managed to lose herself in it for a moment. That’s all it took with him. She would have frozen those few seconds if she could because for that small stretch of time she could almost pretend they were just two, ordinary people pulled close instead of the truth. “Thank you,” he whispered when he pulled away, leaving their foreheads pressed together. This was something she could get used to, the domesticity of filling a morning with half jokes and sweet kisses and time to be slow. Their lives were so quick and loud, so much running and shouting and racing heartbeats, that this stolen little moment in a quiet kitchen just the two of them, it reminded her of what life should hold. And he had given her that, so she would give it right back at every chance she got.

It took her a second to catch her breath. “Well we better eat it before it gets cold. I had to call 3 different places to get this.” 

“Not many restaurants open and selling rib eye steaks at 9am?” he laughed. 

“Not exactly.” When she looked up at his smile she didn’t think she had ever seen him this openly happy before. It was a good look for him. Like most things. And she thought at that moment that she’d do just about anything to keep that smile on his face for as long as she could. 

A rumbling noise from the other room reminded them suddenly of Pote’s residence in the house as well and Teresa cleared her throat.

“Why don’t we forget the plates and just go enjoy this in the bed?” So he pressed one final kiss to her temple, grabbed the box, and followed her back up the stairs to their private haven, still attached to her hand.

The steak ended up getting cold anyway, but at that point neither of them really cared.

**Author's Note:**

> you can come scream and cry with me @chancellor-valdez on tungle dot com


End file.
